Something. It was a miracle they lived through it. Just two frightened kid, the night terror knocked on their door. You said move over here. A loving pastor s family, instant targets. I heard the first chart go off and said i love you. They were the only ones who survived, and no one knew then how long justice would take, or what it would cost. Were you frightened, terrified that they would come back? absolutely. The chilling manhunt. A young survivor, driven to become a state senator. He was very, very passionate. With the ever come out of the dark? i can t believe it s been this long. 30 years later, an answer. The power of forgiveness. This is what my dad and my mom taught me. It was time, to put it to rest, in his 40s and married again, he started fresh here on the beach of malibu. It was time, finally, to put it to rest. Use hollywood to release those demons of his, get the nightmares in the rearview mirror. I look back, it was building a coat of armor. That was killing me and it
She felt like history was repeating itself. He wants to have women and his wife was in his way. We are police wrong? it s like the twilight zone. Lies become truth and the truth becomes lies. Maybe the real killer was still out there. You have lied to the police about this case? yes sir. So devastating. We probably knew that this was the key to solving this. 13 years, 13 years. Such an awful crime. The wife. The little boy and girl. Shot at point blank range. I was just dumbfounded, shocked at what i saw. How to comprehend? what do you talking about? what do you saying? the husband had an alibi. For ten minutes. He could have done anything. He did. 13 years, three trials, repeals, reversals and changing stories. The big picture here, charles, is that for a lot of people, it sounds like a crime. There is a lot of things about this case that doesn t make sense. It has been a long winding pursuit of justice, as one family sees it. It gets more and more wild. I adopted the saying, that whe
Damn it. There was no question who killed her. The mystery was why. I hear the door squeaking. And i hear a grumbling. And i hear the dog rolling. How could you not tell that s your wife? it was dark. I did he just kept seeing it was an accident and he didn t do anything wrong. Others disagreed. We never for a second believed that he didn t know who that was that he was threatening. Was it a tragic mistake? he was broken. Or coldblooded murder? he has fits of emotion, they re only down in front of the detective. A room too dark to see. Turn the light off. Or a story too hard to believe? there s nothing accidental about what he did. A shot in the dark and now in the light of day. The person you know better than anybody else. You can t tell it s her when you pull that trigger? welcome to dateline. There is was a marriage of opposites. She the hard charging businesswoman. He the easygoing contractor. And yet, somehow debbie kelly and lars itzo made it work. Or so it seemed. Until a gunsho
repeating itself. he wanted to have women and his wife was getting in the way. were police just plain wrong? it s like this twilight zone where lies become truth and the truth becomes lies. reporter: maybe the real killer was still out there. you have lied to the police about this case. yes, sir. so devastating. we knew that that was probably the key to solving this. thirteen years. thirteen years of hell! reporter: such an awful crime. the wife. the little boy and girl. my kids are dead. reporter: shot at point blank range. i was just dumbfounded. i was shocked, what i saw. reporter: how to comprehend it? i said, what? what are you, what are you talking about? what are you saying? reporter: the husband had an alibi. could he have slipped away for, say, ten minutes? he could ve done anything. but he didn t. reporter: 13 years. three trials, appeals, reversals. and changing stories. the big picture here, charles, for a lot of people
ammunition. o donnell: the nation s biggest cop killer. why the pandemic made 2021 the deadliest year on record for america s law enforcement. north korean missile launch: the questions tonight about why the f.a.a. grounded planes in the west after kim jong-un s latest missile test. dangerously cold temperatures: subzero wind chills forced schools to close. the fight over voting rights. tonight, the dramatic new step president biden will take to pressure congress to pass landmark legislation. and an update tonight on that story about a california chess program and how our viewers opened their hearts and wallets to help change lives. this is the cbs evening news with norah o donnell reporting from the nation s capital. o donnell: good evening, and thank you for joining us. we are following a number of major stories tonight, but we want to start with breaking news and what is a miraculous series of events. this afternoon, a medical helicopter in distress was hovering lo